---Pc: 1 1 \ \ \, '""', ,", _:jl . _ rr ,. ;:: .,. _. J , . " -.'" -f r ' 'J1 -. .i -\ . \1 !! : . I \ 1\ ..' 11 :: ..... ' 44 windshield had obviously been hlasted with a shotgun. A sight like this v,ras bound to draw a good crowd, Xix must have assumed. The people of :\1c- Alester didn't let him down. He parked the car, leaped out, and, withIn earshot of a maximum number of voters, an- nounced, "I'm sure Carl Albert had absolutely nothzng to do with this as- sassination attempt agaInst me!" Be- cause Albert's incumbency was virtual- ly unassailable, Nix's windshield had been blasted for naught. But he \\7as definitely a formidable opponent, and , --- "t -:::" ............... --^"- , f ..-"_ I,:", i, '^ 0"' Ì \ t i " , ! ÙI -.: . ::' "'1:' ." /r- (i e ,$& L, "" J* 11; - 1" jø '" . , "" \ U t << t " t " . ! .) ;:J ,) i ,." , f .' 'Ì" ..........._", ',', - , -.......... ,; ,,4 _ 1: . " ',' ,., t" / '- '#' ) .- / ./ / --- ---- /' in the 1954 State Senate race he han- dled StIpe easily. Two years later, in rnidterlTI, Nix managed to win a spot on the Court of Criminal .L ppeals. This left his Senate seat vacant. Stipe ran for It and won the election, and he has held the seat ever since. He tries to make it a habit to carry every precinct in the district. Some years ago, the pundits in the pressroom at the State Capitol, in Oklahoma City, began to refer to StIpe-first behind his back and then in print-as the Prince of Darkness. \' , , ! f$/ ( / / II (V -- ' I , -'I J I 1" '\ i " q> t " t , I y11 , - -r -- -r t--- J,., ; i <S. <W' , '" UA " \U' ",,0 ... ,\ Ù ,....-'. <, " ( ..'. \ " ""--'" J /" ------ U1-'/zis all your or;;.;t<J; stufl, fella?)) In truth, Stipe has a healthy lust for bright lights and sunshine \\:-hen the Legislature is in session, responsible citi- zens can always entertain themselves of an evenIng by turning on the tele- vision and watching videotapes of the Prince, a voluble orator, savoring the floor. Moreover, politic1cing in Little Dixie requires him to spend a lot of time in the Sun. By the end of a day of pumping hands, cocking his ear, nodding his head, and mak1ng prom- ises, his face glows like a pink beacon. It is a large, dimpled face-the more broadly he smiles, the more his cheeks dimple ; when he frowns, his brow dimples-with hooded gray eyes, a cherry-tomato nose, and two chins. Stipe has wavy gray-streaked black hair. He is six feet two, bradd-shoul- dered, and sturdily built-hefty but not quite beefy. Often, when he talks, he punches the air like a shadow boxer practicing an uppercut in a clinch. In a crowd, he moves with ease. If he finds himself on a busy Main Street on a Saturday afternoon, he proceeds with an unhurried shuffle, like a man of leisure on his way from the post office to the feed store. He pauses here to share a confidence with the mayor, that fellow in the lime-green leisure suit; he pauses there to curse locusts with three men wearing Big Jims and sweat-soaked straw cowboy hats. If he is poJiticking in tighter quarters, in a crowded room, he works the premises Eke a steadil} moving top, rotating on his heels, eventuallv caroming off ev- eryone present. Stipe's home telephone number is listed in the McAlester di- rectory . For al1 his accessibility and visi- bility , however, the Prince-of- Dar kness myth persists, and it has spawned corol- lary myths. Occasionally, Stipe steps forward to deny the colorful rumor that, as royalty, he is not quite mortal and therefore does not require sleep. '.'J sleep," he savs. "I get by fine on about four hours a night. I like to hit the pillow hard at one or one-thirty and really give it heck until five. I sleep faster than most folks." ',Vhen some of Stipe's colleagues from the Legislature get in the mood to wa"X eloquent, they compare him fa- vorably with the big names in politi- cal prestidigitation-Lyndon Johnson, Hue}1 Long, Julius Caesar He sits on six committees: Rules; ..t\.ppropr;ations and Budget; Criminal J unsprudence ; l')ub}jc Safety and Penal Affairs; Busi- ness, Industry, and Labor Relations, and Roads and Higl1ways, of Wh1Ch he IS chairman. Public Safetv and Pen l1 ..t\ffa;rs is a natural, because Stipe's dis- trict includes the largest penitentiary ill